A Russian general in charge of forces in southern Ukraine has been sacked after speaking publicly about the problems facing his troops.
Major General Ivan Popov, commander of the 58th Army in the Zaporijia (south) region, a key point in Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive, said in an audio message to his troops released late Wednesday that he had been fired after meeting with the army. command in what he described as a stab in the back for Russian troops in Ukraine.
Popov said the military leadership was angry at his open speech about the challenges facing his troops, especially the lack of radars to track enemy artillery, which resulted in many Russian casualties.
“Senior officials apparently saw me as a source of threat and quickly issued an order to get rid of me, which was signed by the defense minister in just one day,” he said, noting that the Ukrainian army has not yet responded. . breaking through the defenses of the Russian army.
“But the chief commander hit us from behind and treacherously and cowardly decapitated the army at this very difficult time,” he said.
Popov, who goes by the name “Spartacus,” called his troops his “gladiators” in the audio message of retired General Andrei Gurulev, who commanded the 58th Army in the past and is now a legislator.
The 58th Army consists of several divisions and smaller units.
The 48-year-old Popov, who rose from platoon commander to leader of a large group of military forces, encouraged his soldiers to come directly to him when they had problems – a relaxed approach that contrasted sharply with the formal and rigid style of command common in the Russian army.
Russian military bloggers say he is widely known for avoiding unnecessary losses – unlike many other commanders who sacrifice soldiers to report successes on the ground.
“I faced a difficult situation with the top management when I had to keep quiet and act like a coward, say what they wanted to hear, or call things by their name,” Popov said.
In a sign that many in the Russian government share Popov’s criticism of the military leadership, Andrei Turchak, the first deputy speaker of the parliament’s upper house and head of the Kremlin’s main United Russia party, strongly supported the general, saying that “the fatherland can be proud of these commanders”.
Andrei Kartapolov, a retired general who heads the defense committee in the chamber of deputies, also said the defense ministry should deal with the issues raised by Popov.
The news of Popov’s resignation added to the blow dealt to Russian troops when another top official, Lieutenant General Oleg Tsokov, was killed in a Ukrainian missile strike on Tuesday.
Popov’s remarks about the need for a rotation of his exhausted troops who had been fighting in the Ukrainian counter-offensive since early June bothered the Chief of the General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, who regarded them as panic attacks and promptly ordered his resignation.
Gerasimov was shown meeting with military officials on Monday in a video released by the defense ministry, the first since last month’s aborted uprising by the Wagner group, which demanded his ouster.
The unrest sparked by the general’s resignation could further undermine the position of Gerasimov, who has been widely criticized for his leadership in the fighting in Ukraine.
During the June 24 uprising, which lasted less than 24 hours, Prigozhin’s Wagner group quickly captured the southern Russian city of Rostov-non-Don, allegedly after a Russian bombing of mercenaries in Ukraine, and captured the military headquarters without firing a shot before a military column, which arrived with little resistance about 200 kilometers from Moscow province, where it intended to remove the military leaders.
The uprising posed the biggest threat to President Vladimir Putin in more than two decades in power and seriously undermined his authority, though Wagner group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said the uprising was not against the head of state, but aimed at driving him out of Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for their conduct of the Russian action in Ukraine.
Source: DN
